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Quotes From Redskins-Bucs Game

Here are quotes from some of the major players and coaches in Sunday’s Redskins-Bucs game. The quotes are courtesy of both the Bucs and Redskins media relations staffs.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
HEAD COACH GREG SCHIANO

(On plan at the end of the game)
“We were going to kick the field goal to go ahead, that’s what we were doing. If you want to interpret it further than that, I don’t know, but we were going to take the lead. We feel we have a good kicker and that was the play.”

(On the game)
“Because you lose at the end, you fail to finish, but we really didn’t do a bunch of stuff before that to put us in position (to win). We didn’t play what I envision as Buccaneer Football—smart football—we had penalties. There are certain penalties that I can live with, but there are others that are inexcusable, and we had a couple of those today. If you get penalties in the kicking game and you start backed up in your own 10 or 15-yard line, that’s a tough road to hoe. Those things that we did not do: we didn’t play smart, we didn’t create takeaways. We have to do a better job of coaching, because for whatever reason it hasn’t gotten done in the last couple of weeks. We’re a team in the fourth quarter. Like most teams in the NFL, it’s going to be tight ball games and we need to find a way to win. We have to stop playing (with errors), but my hat’s off to Washington. They made the plays when they had to make them and again, we came up short.”

(On QB Josh Freeman’s big plays)
“He had some big shots to our receivers, made some big plays in the passing game. That’s what he’s capable of doing. As a team, we just need to play more consistently, we need to coach more consistently and that starts with me. I need to do a better job of getting an organization to play the game and coach it consistently and we will.”

(On defensive effort in the first half)
“We didn’t tackle like we had the first three games (of the season) in the first half, but, again, credit to (the defense), they regrouped and came out and tackled better and played Buccaneer Defense (in the second half). Up until that last drive, they pitched a shutout in the second half.”

(On how he feels about the season)
“It’s the National Football League. We could be 4-0 or we could be 0-4. Every game has been (decided by) seven (points) or less. None of that matters. It really doesn’t matter. We need to get better. I need to coach better. It starts with me, and it goes down through the organization. We just need to get better. You want to win and you’re close, get better and you’ll win.”

QB JOSH FREEMAN

(On building off of the fourth-quarter performance)
“Losing is not acceptable. There are no moral victories. We’re going to go back and evaluate the film and try and get better on the things we need to get better at. We didn’t play well enough to win, but that’s the goal, that’s why we’re all here.”

(On his rhythm throughout the game)
“I felt the exact same the whole game. When you talk about getting in a rhythm and things of that nature, I look at it from one play at a time. Don’t let anything get you too high. Don’t let anything get you too low. Just go out and continue to fight, execute the offense to the best of your ability. We were able to make some plays.”

(On settling for field goals instead of touchdowns)
“I’m unhappy we lost the game. You can look back and you can point at any number of things. Ultimately it’s a team effort, team game, and we needed a touchdown on either of those two drives. Call it what you want, but we just didn’t get it done.”

(On his relationship with Head Coach Greg Schiano)
“I definitely feel like I have a great relationship with Coach Schiano. I spend a lot of time talking with him, matters of football, and matters of life. His door is always open. I think we definitely have a great relationship. We’ll continue to build on that and make it stronger as we go on.”

(On his emotions as the Redskins were lining up for the game-winning field goal)
“In this league you can never be content, never relax. You hope for the best. When they lined up, you just hope for the best. Hope somebody gets through a block or that he shanks it. It didn’t happen for us tonight, but I definitely think that as a team we’ve just got to stick together, keep working, and when we get to the next game, find a way to end with a ‘W’.”

(On being able to finish games)
“When you look at the margin of how many games are close, more often than not, overwhelmingly, games are decided within seven points. So it’s going to be a matter of playing four quarters. You never know how the game’s going to go. It’s a matter of taking every opportunity and trying to maximize its potential.”

S MARK BARRON

(On Washington QB Robert Griffin III)
“He’s a playmaker. He made some things happen for his team tonight. He played a big part in his team winning the game.”

(On Tampa Bay’s upcoming bye week)
“We just have some work to do. We need to go in and take advantage of this time that we have and work on some things.”

(On the loss)
“I hate to lose. I don’t like the feeling, and it’s simple as that. I hate losing.”

K CONNOR BARTH

(On his personal game)
“It’s nice to have coach’s confidence like that. Put (me) out there, 57 yards—I mean, it was a windy day—that’s awesome. But it’s not about me, it’s about the team. We just have to keep working and put this one behind us and enjoy this bye week, get away from football a little bit, relax, and them come back and ready to go.”

(On K Billy Cundiff’s game)
“That’s what an NFL kicker is supposed to do: make (field goals) in the clutch. I’m happy for him, as a fellow kicker. You have to give Washington credit, and they put it in when it counts.”

WR MIKE WILLIAMS

(On the game)
“That field goal at the end, we thought we had it won. They put on a good drive and kicked a field goal for the win; I give all the credit to them. It goes back to the beginning that we have to start faster. If we start faster, we win that game. Credit to them, they stopped us from starting fast. We had to try to finish strong, which we did, (but) they just kicked a field goal for the win.”

(On his 65-yard connection with QB Josh Freeman)
“Anytime you get a big play—it doesn’t matter who it is—the whole team gets excited. I’m glad we had that big play to get our offense going, but I would have rather gotten the win.”

(On K Connor Barth)
“Pro Bowl. Easily. If he doesn’t make the Pro Bowl, they must have had the judges from the (Manny) Pacquiao fight. He is a great kicker, he always gives us a chance.”

DT GERALD MCCOY

(On Washington QB Robert Griffin III)
“He did good, man. He handled his business, stayed comfortable and had great composure at the end and didn’t get flustered. He made the plays he’s suppose to and is going to be good for a long time.”

(On halftime adjustments)
“We got to stop making silly mistakes. We just tackled better in the second half.”

(On the close games this season)
“The fact of the matter is we have to finish. It doesn’t matter whether we lose by a hundred (points) or we lose by two (points), we got to finish. It’s as simple as that.”

WR VINCENT JACKSON

(On being in the position to win the game)
“Yeah we talk about that every week. It’s about finishing and playing a complete game: all three phases. Obviously, we got a great kicker; he did a great job today getting some points up there early in the game for us. We get down in that red zone we want to start coming away with more touchdowns.”

(On the team’s slow start)
“I’m just keeping these guys positive and letting them know it’s a long season. This is a journey. We got to stick to it one week at a time like Coach always says. Take it like one-week seasons; there’s a lot of football left to be played. This division I think is still wide open, and if we continue to take care of business at home and get a few on the road, I think things will take care of themselves.”

(On his relationship with QB Josh Freeman)
“It’s been great. This relationship started back in March and I love the kid. I think of him as my little brother and (we) will continue to grow in this offense together. It’s fun. We really have a lot of fun out there in practice, both on and off the field. I love the way he works. He’s a competitive guy, he’s hungry, he wants to be great and we’re going to continue to help him be the best quarterback he can be.”

WR TIQUAN UNDERWOOD

(On the upcoming bye week)
“We are going to build on the good things we did and clean up the mishaps that we had. Get better this bye week and get ready for the next game.”

(On his key third-down play)
“Just a great call by Coach Sullivan. Josh gave me an opportunity and I came down with it. (The offensive) line gave him time and we just executed.”

(On what can be learned from the game)
“It’s one game, whether you win or lose. You are happy about the good things that you did and you learn from the bad. Obviously, you would rather do that after a win. It’s just one game. Clear your head and move on to the next one.”

(On Coach Schiano having faith in him)
“Obviously he knows me (from Rutgers) and there is some comfort there. I was just grateful to have this opportunity today. In this league when your number is called, you have to be ready. It’s just what I am going to try to do each and every time and each and every week.”

LB MASON FOSTER

(On the game)
“It’s rough. We have to go watch film and have to go play better, all around. It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You know you can play better but it’s just football. You know you have to come out there each and every week. It’s the NFL and it comes down to one or two plays. We just have to keep pushing and everything will be all right.”

(On the defense in the second half)
“Guys just kind of locked in. We made some little adjustments and we got in a flow. We came out ready to play. We (had) missed a couple of tackles in the beginning (and had) little mistakes here and there that we tightened up. But a loss is a loss.”

WASHINGTON REDSKINSHEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN

(On K Billy Cundiff’s game-winning field goal)
“Well, I was just hoping he could keep focus after he missed the last one. I told him it was going to come down to the game-winner and it did. He did a great job of concentrating and obviously he made it.”

(On QB Robert Griffin III)
“He did a great job. He kept his poise in there and I thought he played a heck of a football game throughout. He had a lot of focus and a lot of concentration; that’s what you’ve got to have as a quarterback. He had a lot of poise there in the fourth quarter, especially during that last drive and (he) made some big time plays.”

(On the difference between being 1-3 and 2-2)
“Every game is big. The last two games we found a way to not win them, and this game we found a way to win it. We had a chance to put it away early in the second half. Offensively, we stopped ourselves on every drive. The first one we had a 15-yard penalty, the next two drives we stopped ourselves, and you can’t stop yourself and hurt yourself and expect to win, and that’s what we did. We stopped ourselves a number of times with those 15-yard penalties and we were moving the football, but we gave them a chance. Billy (Cundiff) missed the field goal, too, and that took away some points. We’ve got to play better. It was nice for (Cundiff) to come back and we found a way to win.”

(On RB Alfred Morris)
“He’s been playing great every game. In the first half, I thought he played unbelievably. I thought (Tampa Bay’s) defense stepped up in the second half and played like they have played throughout the year. That’s a heck of a defensive front seven; they play the run extremely well, and for us to have that type of success is a credit to our guys.”

(On Cundiff’s missed field goals)
“That happens in the National Football League. […] But for him to miss those three field goals and still keep his focus and come back and make that game-winner says a lot about him.”

(On Washington’s offensive line)
“We have a good group of guys that are working extremely hard together. Like I said before, there is a cohesiveness in this offensive line that dictates their success both in the running game and the pass protection. You’ve got to be on the same page and they have been.”

QB ROBERT GRIFFIN III

(On the game-winning drive)
“It felt great. The whole drive was a bit complicated. In practice every week we always practice me calling the plays in two-minute acting as if the headset goes out. The funny thing was that the headset did go out on that drive and that’s why I was having to run back and forth to the sideline. I had to call a couple of my own plays and we moved the plays and got in field go range. It was very neat how that practice scenario played out in the game. You don’t want that to happen, but I was pleased.”

(On why TE Fred Davis was so open on the final drive)
“Teams will drop a lot of guys into coverage in those situations, just wanting you to be patient. They know that you have to get a certain amount of yards, so they are just going to play everybody deep. For some reason they left Fred all alone – I guess they ran a Mike (linebacker) right down the field, and (Davis) was wide open and I hit the wide-open guy like I’m supposed to.”

(On whether he watched the final field goal)
“I did. I was walking back and was going to stand on the bench and our tight ends coach Sean (McVay) pulled me to the front line and he said, ‘No, you sit here and you watch this,’ because we all had a feeling he was going to make it even though the day wasn’t so great for him. He came up big when it mattered. It was a great play for him. He redeemed himself with that kick to help us win the game. We all have things that we need to get better at, and, for him, that was a good confidence kick.”

(On having confidence in the two-minute drill)
“You try to rise to the occasion. Thinking of a move called The Replacements, they said, ‘Great players want the ball in their hands when it’s crunch time.’ It’s funny that I just quoted that movie, but it’s also how really is. You want the ball in your hands when something has to happen, and you make it happen.”

CB DeANGELO HALL

(On the difference between the first half and the second half)
“They made plays. They caught the ball, they made plays. I gave up a couple, but they made plays. Good throws, good catches. They made plays.”

(On the performance of the defense)
“Average. We can’t win letting leads like that go. We’ve got to buckle down and finish games off. That has to be our identity. We have to go out there for sixty minutes and keep hitting offenses in the mouth. We let up a little bit and we’ll keep working at it and try to get better.”

DE RYAN KERRIGAN

(On his pass rushing success so far this season)
“I didn’t feel like I was that consistent today with my pass rushing. Now that guy, (Tampa Bay tackle Demar) Dotson, was a pretty good player with long arms. He was a tough match-up. I was glad to get great coverage in the back and make (Josh) Freeman hold the ball longer then he wanted to.”

(On his thoughts as the offense made their game-winning drive)
“I was thinking, ‘Just give us a chance. Just let us a least have that time for the game-winning field goal.’ They made a bunch of plays going down the field, and congrats to Billy (Cundiff) with the huge kick.”

(On the importance of winning this game)
”There is a huge difference between 2-2 and 1-3. Hopefully this can be the start of good things coming for us.”

OL CHRIS CHESTER

(On the win)
”It definitely feels good to get the win. Sloppy at times. The first half we were rolling, obviously. Second half we were driving the ball but it seems like we just had penalties that kept holding us back. But as they say, it doesn’t matter if you win by 20 points or by one point, a win is a win.”

C WILL MONTGOMERY

(On the second half)
“Obviously, in the second half, we were driving the ball, but it seems like we just had penalties that kept holding us back. But, as they say, it doesn’t matter what we do wrong, one point or 20 points…we’re happy with a win.”

(On QB Robert Griffin III)
“He’s just confident. It was like it was the first play of the game. He’s like, ‘Alright guys, let’s go do this.’ He’s a cool, calm operator and he was able to get the job done.”

(On K Billy Cundiff)
“Every time we go out there we think he’s going to make it. It’s our job to stay low and make sure that none of those defensive guys get through there and block it. We have all the confidence in the world in Billy.”

RB ALFRED MORRIS

(On playing in Florida as an FAU graduate)
“It was like a welcome home, so I definitely felt good when I came back. I knew it was going to be tough because I got used to playing in Virginia. The humidity down here is definitely something else. If you’re not used to it, it could cause lots of problems. I definitely was hydrating before I came down. I was prepared.”

(On getting his first 100-yard game)
“I really wasn’t worried about it. I tell people all the time, ‘I just run,’ which is what I do. I’ll do all I can to help my team win and that’s what is important. We got a win today. It was tough. It was a nail-biter but it was a win nonetheless.”

(On being 2-2 versus 1-3)
“It is definitely huge. It’s just getting us the opportunity to stay positive going through the rest of our season. It’s kind of hard to know you gave it your all, to go out there and brush it off each and every day when you continue to lose. I mean, of course, you want to do good, but when you’re losing it definitely makes it tougher.”

(On the play of his offensive lineman)
“They did a great job. Without the O-linemen blocking out in front of me, I wouldn’t be able to gain any yards, so I [have] got to be thankful for them.”

WR SANTANA MOSS

(On the game)
“We let those guys come back, and, not to say they (Tampa Bay) didn’t go out there and didn’t deserve it, because they did go out there and make a lot of great plays, but when you have that kind of lead, you have to go ahead and put that foot on the gas and finish the game. So by us not being able to accumulate some points throughout the first part of the second half, it got critical in momentum situations. For us to be in that situation, I went into the two-minute period and was like, ‘Hey, this is what we practice every Thursday and this is something that we should be pretty good at.’ Coach said, ‘We [are] running two minutes,’ so we went out there and made something happen.”

(On Robert Griffin III’s play in the last drive)
“He just called the play. He was just like himself. Nothing different. You all have been asking these questions about this guy for too many weeks now. He’s not changing. He went out there and did what he’s supposed to do and that’s just to lead us.”

WR PIERRE GARÇON(On playing through pain)
“I wasn’t one-hundred percent, but I was out there doing the best I can to help the team and did everything I could.”

(On the win and what it does for the team moving forward)
“It was a much-needed win. We really needed it to especially grow from this, especially in this short season right now, so it’s a motivational booster, confidence booster, and it’s a great feeling.”

(On the last drive)
“It was a great drive. It was great clock management, great plays. We made plays when we really needed it. Freddy [Davis] did a great job, Santana [Moss] did a great job, RG [Robert Griffin III] did a great job. Everybody came together when we really needed it and Billy [Cundiff] finished it off for us.”

I wonder if seeing Coach Morris on the other side line had anything to do with it? We’ve played better all year but then have performance flashbacks of 2011 against a team that may be our worst opponent we’ve faced this year? Makes you think…..I think Coach Morris was in there heads.

I never doubted we would come from behind. We almost won. I had this one marked down as a win so I guess I was off.

That said…the most disturbing thing to me is how quickly the fans quit on this team.

Sullivan is a rookie as well. So it is taking him time (right now) to get things happening in each game. But every time he faces so.ething new from an opposing defense it is a lesson earned. He is finding ways to overcome challenges late in the games. As his experience grows, such adaptations will become second nature.

There are weaknesses on the team but they are slowly strengthening. The lack of quit on the team is excellent (too bad the fans don’t possess the same).

I agree 100%. And I REALLY like the unity we’re seeing on the team. I suspect the play we saw as the offense came back is what will become the norm throughout each game at some point. We just need to be patient and let it happen.

I did realize why Freeman overthrows so many passes though. It’s because he’s being instructed to due to the height of his recievers. He just needs to fine tune that part of his game. It comes off as being inaccurate (and in some cases he is) but I think this is a part of his redevelopment (from the ground up).